LEWISTON — Larry Gilbert liked everything about being mayor, except for City Council meetings, he said Sunday morning.

But after a handful of meetings with the city’s new council behind him, that’s begun to change.

“I get the sense now that people are working together more, trying to do the right thing,” Gilbert said.

His colleagues on the council, sitting around a table in the Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce conference room, agreed. They want to work together more closely, more politely, more professionally.

It was the first step.

Councilors, Mayor Gilbert and members of the city’s administrative staff met Sunday for a daylong planning and team-building retreat. They spent the morning setting ground rules for the day, discussing their past and planning their legacy — the things they want people to remember about them.

Then, they began discussing they things they want to . By the end of the day, they hoped to have a list of priorities for the city and some concrete steps to get them there.

“Understand that things are going to happen that you have no control over,” said moderator Steve Pecukonis. “There will always be unexpected things, but it’s great to have a list of goals you can always be working towards.”

But that list would come later, after the group had finished their lunch. The morning was for team building — getting to know each other and to work as team to make the city a better place. Councilors broke for lunch about noon, and planned to continue their discussions about 1 p.m.

“When I was a kid, I heard plenty of bad things about Lewiston,” Councilor John Butler said. “The bars, the headshop downtown, the drugs. When I leave office, I want people to around the state to say positive things about Lewiston.”

Gilbert had a similar feeling.

“It angers me when people talk badly about my community,” he said. Councilors need to act to counter that bad impression.

Others said they didn’t seek council seats with an agenda in mind.

“I don’t think anybody seeks office like this with anything but a desire to serve,” Councilor Mark Cayer said. “But I think agendas in the past have gotten in the way. What I saw in the past, that convinced me to run, was disfunction — to many agendas. I’m relieved to say now that this group seems willng to be a good team.”

Councilor Ron Jean said he was simply interested in doing a good job.

“When I leave people dont’ have to pat me on the back as long as they don’t kick me in the ass,” he said.

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